South East Asia

South Korea’s reticent response to the U.S. Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy has been in the spotlight, producing mixed perceptions. South Korea’s geopolitical climate is dominated by the nuclear threat posed by North Korea but Seoul is also concerned about China’s growing assertiveness. Embracing the U.S. FOIP rhetoric would …

The British newspaper Daily Telegraph did some kite-flying in the weekend that London is considering open-ended deployment of a contingent of elite special forces to Afghanistan “ to provide training to Afghan units and deploy with them on the ground as advisers.” At the same time, the New York Times …

France is stepping up its naval activities in the Asia-Pacific. Last month, the French navy conducted joint exercises with the United States, Australian and Indian navies, just weeks after a separate naval drill with India that involved two aircraft carriers. In April, the French frigate Vendemiaire made a rare passage …

Philippine Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin Jr. was peeved at Beijing. It was early May, and hundreds of Chinese vessels had been regularly intruding into the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea, where the Chinese government has made expansive maritime territorial claims. After lodging numerous complaints through formal …

On June 29, 2021, at least 10 persons were killed and eight injured, when terrorists triggered a landmine explosion that struck a van in the Godar area of Kurram District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). On June 2, 2021, an Army soldier, identified as Lance Naik Waqas Ahmed, was killed in …

In the first ever successful offensive use of drones in India, in the night of June 26-27, 2021, two explosive payloads were dropped, within a span of six minutes, on the Indian Air Force (IAF) station in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), by drones/unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Two Security Forces …

The CPC’s centennial marks a historic breakthrough for China by far exceeding the predictions of most foreign observers. In a nutshell, the CPC has achieved the twin collective goals of getting rid of poverty and standing up to bullying by foreigners. The CPC is omnipotent in China and has become …

The Taliban has “prevailed” in its battle with the West in Afghanistan, said General Lord Dannatt, the former head of the British Army as it emerged all UK and U.S. troops will be withdrawn on Sunday. Writing in The Telegraph, General Lord Dannatt said: “Ultimately, Taliban force of arms has …

Commenting on a report in the Washington Post about China’s nuclear capability building, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday that the build-up of nuclear forces had become more difficult for China to hide and it appeared to be deviating from decades of nuclear strategy based on minimal …

Undoubtedly, China’s communists have achieved a great deal. But the party remains nervous about its hold on power, and hesitant to implement necessary political and economic reforms. Given the inauspicious start of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – worried about police surveillance, it moved its founding meeting from Shanghai to …